The Martial Artist Turned Movie Mogul-Chapter 734 - 733. Must draw, must draw!

The restraint shown by the Young Sect Master of the Tang Sect.

Tang Shu dropped a sentence and strode directly up to the second floor, leaving his little assistant, Yang Tiantian, standing dumbfounded, taking a long while to come back to her senses.

***

On the second day of the National Calligraphy and Painting Competition, at nine o’clock sharp, the topic for advancing from the top eight to the top four was announced.

Of course, the paintings had to be created on the spot again, but this time there was a time limit, the works needed to be submitted before noon.

That is to say, each contestant had three hours to prepare.

Inside the conference room, the audience filled the seats again, different from yesterday was that today the large screen behind the stage had been merged into one, rather than being separated into individual segments.

"Please look at the big screen for the topic of this traditional Chinese painting competition!"

With Liao Yicheng’s words hitting the ground, he, clad in a suit, leaned to the side, and immediately the screen behind him transformed, converging into a painting.

A masterpiece.

"Master Xu’s ’Gallop Horse Painting’!"

"The topic is actually a masterpiece, what does this mean?"

"Are they asking us to paint horses as well?"

"This... Every one of us has our understanding of this painting, the judges probably want us to grasp different meanings from this one painting, and then create what’s in our hearts."

Upon seeing the masterpiece, the eight contestants pondered over the "topic" that was intended to be conveyed to them, furrowing their brows in deep thought.

Up on the stage, the eight contestants were lost in thought; downstairs, whether it was the audience with voting devices or the regular audience, all were engrossed in contemplation. The difference was that they could talk to each other, while those on stage could only rely on themselves.

"I think if it were me, I would consider painting another picture with horses as the theme."

"It shouldn’t be that simple, right? And no matter how good your horses are, they’re nothing compared to Master Xu’s masterpiece."

"Right, it’s difficult to excel if you want to paint horses, and you’ll be completely overshadowed by the topic. I think no one should paint galloping horses."

"The galloping horses reflect the cruelty of the wartime period and the strong will to fight of our people, isn’t the central message that the topic wants to express right here?"

"If it were me, I would paint a grand landscape, which would correspond to this central theme, wouldn’t it?"

...

People began brainstorming, starting from the creative background of the ’Gallop Horse Painting’, expressing their views, and surprisingly came up with many bizarre and strange ideas.

Song Qingyuan’s three companions, being quite close to the front voting area, initially did not voice their thoughts, instead, they listened to insightful analyses from the professionals.

Qiqi froze.

"Holy shit, it’s just a painting, and they can think of so many meanings? I’m down on my knees for you guys!"

"Good Lord, has this group of people’s thinking really diverged to such an extent?"

"Truly artists! We laymen are nothing compared to them—"

The three clicked their tongues in wonder, the more they listened the more they felt the discussion in the front row was overturning their understanding, and they gave up on using their layman’s knowledge to participate, deciding to just be listeners instead.

***

On the east side of the stage, ten judges lined up in a row.

This was also their first time seeing the topic for the first half of the finals, and they scrutinized Master Xu’s ’Gallop Horse Painting’ on the screen with thoughtful gazes.

"Master Bai, you kept the topic close to your chest, no wonder you didn’t disclose it to us in advance. So this was the play you were making!"

"This year’s topic is different from previous years, isn’t it? I remember that last session’s topics were still poems or idioms, those kinds of texts, but who would have thought it would be a painting this time?"

Master Bai sat in the position of the President of his own association, leisurely sipping his tea, appearing completely at ease.

"Isn’t this to keep up with the pace of young people, to pursue progress with the times? Since we’ve innovated in other areas this year, we should innovate the topics as well, shouldn’t we?"

Professor Xue twitched the corner of his mouth, "So, this is the reason you insisted on setting the topic personally, to give us a shock on the spot as well?"

"No, no, no, I have another meaning as well."

Master Bai revealed a smile laden with deep meaning, his gaze toward the ten individuals filled with a mixture of anticipation and... a desire to watch the drama unfold.

Huh?

Watch the drama?

Tang Shu, who was at the far end, paused for a moment, feeling a mysterious chill down her back.

What on earth does this club president, who seems to become younger with age, want to do?

At this moment, Dean Wang and Professor Li were still unaware of Master Bai’s intentions and suddenly became curious.

"Oh? Old Bai, what else do you plan to do? You should know that using this painting as the competition topic is already a tough challenge for the contestants."

"Indeed, the ’Gallop Horse Painting’ is not easy to replicate. Its original creative background is too special. We also need to interpret its meaning before we can judge. Please don’t add to the difficulty for the contestants."

The judges all felt sympathy for this year’s contestants!

Each judge expressed their views, all except Tang Shu, who remained silent, quietly waiting for Master Bai to clarify.

She had a feeling that the direction this was taking wasn’t going to be good....

"There are still three hours left before the contestants submit their work. You’re all bored, aren’t you? Since that’s the case, why don’t we, as judges, set an example and each paint a piece? Later, we can show the contestants!"

Master Bai stroked his white beard thoughtfully and gave a thumbs-up gesture behind him.

"Chenxi, don’t just stand there dazed. Where’s the stuff I asked you to prepare in advance? Send it over to our esteemed peers."

No sooner had his voice fallen than Bai Chenxi came onstage with a sly grin, carrying two sets of writing brush, ink stick, paper, and inkstone in his hands.

Everyone looked toward the table behind Master Bai and saw that there were eight more sets that had yet to be brought out.

The judges: "..."

Tang Shu: "..."

As expected.

"This, this is against the rules!"

"Exactly, Old Bai, don’t mess around. We are at a competition right now, don’t embarrass our association."

Master Bai, seemingly having anticipated the opposition from everyone, handled the situation with ease.

"How is this against the rules? Rules are made by humans. If it hasn’t been done before, let’s consider it innovation. And don’t talk to me about the face of the association; if you all show your skills, won’t that dignity be restored?"

"Or are you saying that you can’t earn back that dignity?"

"..."

The group was left speechless by his last comment.

Can’t earn it back?

What a joke!

If they took action, what dignity couldn’t they restore?

They were the face of the association!

Master Bai glanced at the group, even taking the time to shoot a warning look at his grandson behind him, who was still struggling to hold back his laughter, and said in an undertone:

"Could it be that you think you can’t outpaint those eight youngsters?"

"Impossible!"

Old Li was the first to object!

Having lived more than half his life, he had poured decades of his heart and soul into Chinese painting. How could he possibly be outdone by a few greenhorns? Ridiculous!

"There you go. Why don’t you start? Let me see if any of you have lost your edge."

Old Li snorted, reaching out to pick up the brush placed on the upper right side.

"Paint, we must paint!"